Cafe May is a place near and dear to my heart 💛

Located in Hamburg, Germany, I believe there are three other locations (I have a thing for cafes with multiple locations, apparently), but this location on Seilerstraße takes the cake - and my god are their cakes truly delicious! 🍰

But no - it is not simply their cakes that make Cafe May one of my favorite places in the world.

We have a history.

It was in Cafe May where I sat for my first meal with my work colleagues in 2019 - 2 days after arriving in Hamburg and stepping foot into Europe for the first time 🌍

It was here where I tried my first franzbrötchen - a Cafe May and Hamburg Staple. Imagine a croissant and a cinnamon roll had a baby. Franzbrötchen is that “little French bread” baby.

It’s funny, when I brought some of my friends here for the first time, they were like “Wait, THIS is the place that you have been anticipating going back to for 2 years” - Not that it was bad or anything 😂 I think I had just hiped it up so much that they were expecting something more than just a cute corner cafe. Oops 🤷🏼‍♀️

Now, from the outside to the average person this place would not seem the most inviting.

🥐First, like most of St. Pauli and the Reeperbahn area, the building is covered in graffiti. 😬

But it is quite a normal thing to see in this area. Unlike many cities in the U.S. or UK, the graffiti on buildings around here is not a sign of the area being unsafe…most likely 😏… Rather, it gives the building an artsy edge.

The Reeperbahn is the next street over; the famous red light district of the city and known as a great place to party. You may have also noticed that there is a sex store right across the street from Cafe May. Did I mention that the cruise entertainment building that I worked in was right next store? 😅

Although, admittedly, I did notice that over the pandemic the city has gained a lot more graffiti, Cafe May not excluded.

🥐Second, the inside looks like someone’s parents/grandparents’ living room. It is super comfortable though, even with the mismatched furniture.

And the coffee bar…

I mean, THE COFFEE BAR.

It has a window filled with pastries and goodies. Which, to the untrained eye, may look like average baked goods, but they are truly out of this world. (And even on a Monday - the line to get in is out the front door)

🥰

So on this day, I decided to order my regular - Zwei Franzbrötchen und einen Cappuccino, groß. (Not sure if this was correct, written here or when I spoke it lol)

And as usual, since mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut, and apparently neither is my accent, I was greeted with a hearty, English, “Of course! For here or take away?!” 🙃

***Additionally, I would like to apologize for my bad photo skills. Hopefully, with time, (and by taking my time 😅) my skills will improve. Stick around to watch that hopefully happen!!

Cafe May, My Bae 💝